Why yes, thank you, it is very literal.

According to a new report in Hollywood Reporter (how apropos!!), Terrence Howard is out of the upcoming Iron Man sequel, and will be replaced by similarly Oscar-nominated black actor Don Cheadle (Cheadle’s nomination was for Hotel Rwanda in ’04, Howard’s for Hustle & Flow in ’06).

In the movie, Howard played Jim Rhodes, Tony Stark/Iron Man’s best friend and future armor-clad hero War Machine.
Marvel had no comment, but sources close to the deal said negotiations with Howard fell through over financial differences, among other reasons. Marvel, which had wanted to work with Cheadle, then decided to take the role in another direction and approached the actor [I presume they mean Howard here - it's not not called The Hollywood Proofreader for nothing], who is shooting Antoine Fuqua’s “Brooklyn’s Finest” with Richard Gere and Ethan Hawke.

They’re both great actors, so I don’t see this having that much affect on the final movie, which  teams original director and star Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. with Tropic Thunder screenwriter Justin Theroux (a good move – the screenplay was definitely the weakest point of the first one).  But I don’t see how they can cite financial reasons and in the same breath say they wanted Cheadle all along.  One would assume Cheadle doesn’t come cheap either.  I guess the only real danger here is confusing people into thinking Tony Stark has more than one black friend.